


Lo-Q-tus

by inklingdeco



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Alternate Universe, Feelings, M/M, this one is gonna be a heartbreaker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 13:52:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7717339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inklingdeco/pseuds/inklingdeco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternate universe where Q decides to take matters into his own hands and take Picard's place, becoming Locutus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is the prologue for what I hope to be a multi-chapter fic! Thank you to tumblr users projectivepearl and yamiswift for your help and future artwork!

The Continuum can't say he didn't try.  
The thing is, Q aren't really *supposed* to get involved in the affairs of mortals. They almost have their own Prime Directive, and most sensible Q realize their power is so great that if they changed whatever they wanted, messed around, influenced mortal's lives or tried to help them, they could easily make things worse for everyone. The Q are hurricanes in bottles- open up just a little bit and an entire wave of destruction just can't be stopped.  
Q knew this. And he tried not to get involved too much.  
Q wasn't exactly the most law abiding Q in the Continuum anyway, while he acknowledged his power was vast and potentially catastrophic, he didn't feel that they should keep their hands off of everything. Q should, at the very least, have the option to intervene when those silly creatures called mortals just can't get it right.  
And the crew of the Enterprise was getting it so, so wrong.  
Some might call it divine intervention, Q would call it throwing Picard a bone, but he thought with a fraction of Q's power, Picard would be able to break himself out of the Borg. Just a faulty wire, Q's finger reaching in and slipping up the Borg's perfect machinery in order to give Picard a chance. It would be fun to watch him try, to make Picard a big damn hero who would burst out of the Borg, using nothing but his own willpower (and a little help from a friend.)  
Q thought the faulty wire would be enough. He thought that disconnecting it (without making himself known, of course- have to let Picard be the hero so Q gloating about it later would feel all the more sweeter) give Picard a fighting chance.  
But he didn't move. All he did was cry. He stood facing the rapt Enterprise crew, every blink sending tears down his cheeks but nothing stopping the flow of words, as if Picard was being held at gunpoint. He gave Picard an out- a small shred of humanity completely untouched by the Borg that he would have lost otherwise, but it wasn't enough.  
He knew it was there, he wouldn't have been able to cry otherwise, but Picard wasn't strong enough to leave. Q watched, an invisible spectator as his crew- that traitorous, idiotic, impulsive, feeble minded...He watched as Picard's crew decided to give up.  
There's nothing that can be done, they said. We have to give up on him. He's gone. He's gone. He's gone.  
They couldn't give up on him! How could humans talk of having such high moral standards and then just abandon Picard to a life of misery, silent screaming with no mouth to open, now trapped with the shred of humanity Q had blessed (cursed?) him with.  
Riker and his trained animals could wear their silly costumes and pretend to be the big boys all day long. Or, maybe, Q couldn't understand the word "never" since it couldn't exist for him.  
Nothing could never be for him. It could and would always be possible for him to do anything, and watching Riker give up on Picard because he could never be fixed couldn't click with Q's omnipotent mindset.  
Riker thought it was a tactical retreat. Q thought it was cowardice.  
The Continuum can't say he didn't try. He tried to keep his influence minimal, he was only going to touch that one little wire, he didn't even show himself, but now he couldn't sit by.  
Something compelled him to reach in and save this terrified, caged man he once knew as Picard but who went by Locutus now, because this was not the ending he wanted. He wanted Picard to take down the whole Borg, his crew behind him and making a heck of a show for Q to enjoy, but it wasn't going as planned. This wasn't supposed to happen. They weren't just supposed to leave him. Why would they leave him!?  
They can't say he didn't try. He was going to let everything play out without him. But mortals can't be expected to make the right decisions on their own.


	2. Negotiations

"You have something that doesn't belong to you."  
In a flash of light Q appeared a few feet in front of Locutus, the other Borg drones turning to face him with weapons raised. Nothing on Locutus' face could register shock or surprise, or any emotion for that matter, but Q could feel the slightest glimmer inside him. There's Picard. There's his shock that manifests into anger that manifests into fear. Q couldn't help but smirk.  
The drones form a circle around Q, guns at the ready and green light shining all around them. It's dark and cold in a way that even Q can perceive. In a way he knows this is terrifying to Picard. Q raises his hands to the side, smiling at the ground.  
"Oh, don't bother with all that. A phaser blast a trillion times as powerful as the ones your minions have wouldn't so much as make me blink. But if you really do know what Picard knows, you know that already."  
Locutus' eyes didn't falter, but the solders in a circle around the two slowly lowered their arms.  
"State your purpose," his mechanical voice so similar to Picard's, but not quite, commanded.  
"I already told you. You took something you had no right to take. So I'm here to be the big hero and rescue the damsel in distress." He folded his hands together and smirked through Locutus to Picard. "And don't worry, Jean-Luc. None of this assimilating was my doing, so stop wor-"  
"Jean-Luc Picard is no longer here." Locutus said, his voice growing louder.  
"Oh no, I know he is. And you must know he is too. Doesn't that just drive you mad?" Q said, steping closer to Locutus. "The best technology in the galaxy and you still can't keep a good man down." Q squinted his right eye and stepped back, the laser mounted on Locutus' temple getting in his eye.  
"In any case, he's suffered enough now, time to let him go. Be a good robot and give him up, Picard has much better things to do than be your psuedo-ambassador."  
"Jean-Luc Picard's body will stay part of the Borg." Locutus droned back in response. "He has been selected, his crew had abandoned him."  
Q crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling. The only sounds were the distant whirring of machinery, and their voices echoing through the vastness of the ship.  
"You know, even we Q, as chaotic as I seem, have a sort of moral code. I'm stepping outside of it right now to engage with you, in fact. We generally aren't supposed to meddle too much in the lives of other beings- even when we've let humans into our collective we at least gave them a choice."  
"Choice is irrelevant. This is the most satisfactory course of action."  
"And they believed that having Riker as part of the Continuum was the best course of action," Q replied. "But we still let him decide. I might have overstepped my boundaries in trying to convince him, but I certainly didn't tell him he didn't have a choice. You see Locutus, beings like us have to be careful. We're too powerful for our own good, and if you continue on like you are, it could result in more destructi-"  
"Irrelevant." Locutus spat back (as much as his computerized voice would allow, and yet it did still feel like he was getting frustrated.) "We have decided Jean-Luc Picard will be a part of the Borg for the remainder of time."  
"What if someone took his place?"  
Q could feel Picard (what was left of him) freeze. Once again Q couldn't hide a small smile, his handiwork was just too impressive not to be proud of.  
"Someone who could offer more knowledge than Picard ever could, while still maintaining a human appearance." He looked Locutus in the eye (Picard's eyes, they're still his eyes, nothing will ever change that,) and stepped forward with his hands behind his back. "Nothing sorted, Jean-Luc, I assure you. I'm doing this for you, I won't turn the Borg int-"  
"Jean-Luc Picard is not here."  
"You have a terrible problem with interrupting, Locutus! Manners, please. And I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to him."  
"You can not take the place of Jean-Luc Picard," Locutus continued, "We posses knowledge of the Q continuum. You will use your powers to leave."  
"I can give them up."  
Picard's mind was screaming. He couldn't scream. Q heard him and ignored him. It's for his own good.  
"If you know anything Jean-Luc knows you know I've done it before. It's possible, you'd have a completley powerless being with all the knowledge included. I think Earth would listen to me sooner than they'd listen to your face, anyway, they much prefer a handsomer face telling them they're about to be assimilated."  
This time, Locutus was the one to step forward. Face-to-face, inches apart, Locutus trying to be intimidating when Q knew he was no longer even a player in this game. Q looked down at him as one would look down at a child.  
"What do you have to gain." Locutus said, eyes steeling.  
"Picard's freedom."  
"What do you care for the life of one mortal."  
Q shrugged, but maintained eye contact. Maybe Picard could see him, maybe he'd look into his eyes and know he was sincere, maybe he'd be less-No. He can't know he's lying.  
"More freedom to do what I want. Remember that moral code earlier? It does reach a point where it gets dreadfully boring not to use the power I have. I can dabble here and there but I've never had real power. No real control over humanity."  
Q wasn't sure if he wanted Picard to know he was lying. He was afraid his expression would give him away- Locutus wouldn't be able to tell, but Picard could. Picard could always tell when he was lying. But it was better for Picard to think he was being sincere here. Maybe if Picard thought he was telling the truth, as soon as he got out Picard wouldn't hesitate to destroy the Borg, now that they have an (formerly) omnipotent helmsman. Q would have to go down with the ship, but.  
"They won't let us leave, or do what we want with our lives. Can't kill ourselves, or try to break free without punishment, can't rebel- saying I'm malcontent is an understatement."  
Locutus and his drones didn't move. Q could tell they were mulling it over. Picard was screaming. He could not scream.  
Q stood in silence, waiting.  
"We have decided to accept your offer at the cost of your powers. You will be assimilated." The drones began approaching Q, before he held up his hands and looked between the dozen or so of them that currently surrounded him in a circle.  
"Just a minute! I do admire your enthusiasm, but I do this on the condition that Picard is released first, and put safely back on his ship. I'm not doing anything until Picard is back on his merry way exploring the galaxy."  
"He will be assimilated again when we find his ship. This is an inevitability."  
"Give him more time or I don't give you my knowledge."  
Locutus nodded his head once. "It is decided. Jean-Luc Picard will be temporarily removed from the Borg collective and placed back on the USS Enterprise."  
Q's arms were held tight by two Borg drones (who knew he could just poof out whenever he wanted, but held on anyway,) as Locutus was given another shot in the neck to shut him down. His eyes, still with an inkling of Picard's humanity in them, looked as Q hung his head slightly toward the floor, a small sad (was he sad?) smile on his face. He glanced back up at Picard, not Locutus, never Locutus, and said,  
"See you on the other side, mon capitaine,"  
before Locutus shut off.


End file.
